This invention relates to urine collectors having a flexible collection bag and an adhesively-faced attachment member joined to the bag which is used to affix the collector to the individual utilizing the collector, typically an infant or small child. The invention pertains particularly to an improved collector which provides ease of application and a proper barrier in the perineal area of an infant to block migration of fecal matter and possible contamination of the collected urine specimen.
Many urine collectors have been developed for collection of urine samples from infants. Perhaps the most common currently in use is the urine collector described in Huck U.S. Pat. No. 3,366,116. The urine collector of this patent has a plastic bag for urine collection and an adhesively-faced application material which, because of a vertical fold or pinch, is supposed to form a dam which is intended to eliminate leakage in the lower perineal area. In practice, however, it has been found that unless application is very precise, leakage is not eliminated.
Other urine collection devices have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,537 discloses a urine collector which is adhesively attached to an infant, and which also includes a "semi-stiff" plastic separator to separate the walls of the flexible collection bag and properly accommodate the uro-genital area of an infant. No dam or barrier in the perineal area is provided. A similar device, without a plastic separator, is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,292,626. Again, the device of this patent omits any dam or barrier in the perineal area. Still other urine collectors are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,877,769; 3,077,883; 3,200,415 and 3,340,876, all of which have no dam or barrier in the perineum.